Question

Born in 1910, my mother was the first director I ever met. Wearing an apron and teaching tap in the basement of our apartment building, she was a housewife and dance teacher. Even from a young age she was an entertainer who thought performing was not just a hobby or even a profession but a way of living that was as essential as breathing or eating.

Mom was always “on” from her energetic teaching of her dance students to her late-night work when she would type out songs, dance routines, and funny plays for her dance recital. I would be in my bed and still hear her typewriter as I went to sleep at night. Her typing sounded like rain. Always working, she would go to Broadway shows, steal the routines, and come back and type them out for her students to perform. I knew right from the beginning that if I could make my mom laugh, then I could make her love me.

When I grew up and moved to Hollywood as an adult, I would later create 14 prime-time TV shows and direct 17 movies. During my five decades in show business, I never forgot my mother’s advice to find the humor in anything. I wanted to entertain the world and not put people to sleep. If my mom had been born at a different time in history she might have become a stage actress or a performer herself. Instead, she trained my two sisters and I to work in the field of entertainment. She remains to this day my inspiration and creative compass. I will never stop carrying on my mother’s message, and I will never stop missing her. In fact, as a tribute to my mother I built The Marjorie Ward Marshall Dance Center at Northwestern University. Whenever I visit the building it helps remind me that to entertain people and make them laugh is what my own career has been all about.

26. The author’s mother worked as a __________.

A. movie director                                 B. stage actress

C. dance instructor                      D. businesswoman

27. Why did the author’s mother work deep into night even at home？

      A. She wanted to set a good example to her children.

      B. She wished to entertain herself after a day’s work.

      C. She expected to train her students to be top dancers.

      D. She thought it was a way of living and tried her best.

28. What did the author learn from Mother?

      A. To entertain people and make them laugh.      B. To teach people to dance elegantly.

      C. To steal the routines from Broadway shows.

      D. To create TV shows and direct movies.

29. The author’s two sisters might be __________.

      A. also dance teachers as well as housewives  B. entertainers inspired by their mother

      C. also typists working late at night D. performers to enjoy themselves with others’ humor

30. Which word may have nearly the same meaning as the underlined word “tribute”?

      A. Charity.         B. Achievement.       C. Welfare.           D. Present.

Answer 1

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